


Confess To Me, All That Lies Between Us

by chaostheoryy



Category: X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Cell Phones, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Historically inaccurate given the timeline but who cares just drown yourself in this fluff, M/M, Prompt Fill, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-15
Updated: 2016-07-15
Packaged: 2018-07-24 06:26:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7497603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaostheoryy/pseuds/chaostheoryy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erik takes Charles' phone on accident one day and is surprised to find a picture of himself as his background.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Confess To Me, All That Lies Between Us

**Author's Note:**

> This is another prompt fill for my dear angeredthoughts who asked for a story in which Erik accidentally discovers that Charles has a photo of him as his phone background.  
> Needless to say the whole cell phone thing is extremely inaccurate in the canon X-Men timeline given the "past" scenes occur between the 50's and 80's. So please just ignore that and enjoy the fluff.  
> (Title from the lyrics of "Pictures of You" by The Last Goodnight.)

It was a peaceful Sunday morning. Erik was seated in his chair, newspaper in hand and a cup of coffee on the table beside him. As usual, Charles was in his place directly across from him, lap covered in documents as he sorted through a variety of financial breakdowns for his school. Things were looking bright for Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. He had the estate all cleaned out, several of the mansion's bedrooms set up to provide boarding for students attending from long distances. All Charles needed to do to finish preparations was to buy a few more computers and finish stocking his shelves with some books based on his established curriculum.  
  
Every now and then, Erik would look up from the paper and watch Charles work. Even in the silent process of crunching numbers, Charles was fascinating to him. The way his eyes would seem to light up when he figured out a missing piece, the small grin that would tug at his lips as he read a particularly satisfying line in one of his letters. It was rather endearing to observe a man so passionate about his work.  
  
Erik smiled to himself as he turned the page of his newspaper. He was completely content with where he was despite the complete simplicity of the situation. He wasn't fighting anyone, wasn't planning an attack against some force of evil. He was just...happy. Happy to have a home. Happy to be with Charles.  
  
Erik's eyes wandered back to Charles just in time to watch as the man brought the end of his pen to his mouth and begin rolling it along his bottom lip. Erik immediately became fixated, forgetting about the paper in his hand entirely. His eyes remained plastered to Charles' mouth, watching as he captured the end of the pen between his teeth before his tongue darted out to wet his lips when he began scribbling notes on his papers again.  
  
Erik swallowed and forcefully pried his eyes away from Charles to look back down at the paper in his hands. But even as he began reading again, his mind kept wandering back to Charles. The words in front of him become absolute nonesense as his brain fed him thoughts of Charles plump lips pressed against the neck of the pen. From there he began to imagine all sorts of things. He thought about what those lips would feel like on his neck, what it would be like to kiss them and bite at them.  
  
Erik nearly groaned, his fingers threatening to tear the newspaper in his hand. He was treading on very thin ice by allowing himself to think of Charles that way. Charles was his friend, a man who had rescued him from a very troubled life and given him hope and purpose. The last thing he needed to do was taint Charles' image with lust.  
  
"I'm going to take a shower," Erik said as he closed his paper, "You need anything, Charles?"  
  
Charles shook his head, not even bothering to pry his eyes from his paperwork as he responded. "No, no, I'm fine, Erik. Thank you."  
  
Erik nodded to himself and reached down to grab his phone from the coffee table before exiting the study. He needed to step away for a moment before his head started to swim with wild fantasies about Charles. What right did he have to think of Charles that way? Charles certainly didn't feel any kind of romantic attatchment toward him. How could he? Erik had only ever caused trouble for those around him. The likelihood of Charles being sexually attracted to him was probably just as low. As far as Erik knew, Charles wasn't attracted to men. Hell, Charles had hardly displayed any sort of attraction to anyone.  
  
Erik sighed and leaned against the wall, tilting his head back in a sense of defeat. He was such a fool. He should have seen this coming, should have known it was only a matter of time before Charles' brilliance and charm would get to him.  
  
He looked down at the phone in his hand, brow furrowing as he realized something was off about it. The scratch that he'd accidentally gotten on it last month wasn't there and the screen was far cleaner than usual. Confused, he pressed the lock button and was completely taken back when the screen lit up to reveal a picture of himself. It was a photo of him standing outside of the mansion, elbows propped up on the railing out back. He was wearing his brown jacket and black turtleneck, eyes focused on something out in the distance. He looked at peace, the hint of a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth.  
  
Erik stared at the screen in awe, realizing that this was not only Charles' phone but that Charles had chosen a photo of him as his background. Why on Earth would Charles choose a picture of him? Why not Raven? Why not just a picture of his mansion?  
  
Erik's attention was drawn away from the phone as Charles came around the corner.  
  
"Ah, Erik," he said with a smile, "I think you may have grabbed the wrong phone. You left yours on the-" His sentence cut off suddenly, his smile fading away as a look of panic came over him upon seeing the phone unlocked and the photo of Erik glaring up at him.  
  
Erik stared at him in confusion. "Charles, why do you have a photo of me as your background?"  
  
He could see Charles' jaw clench, his fingers wrapping tightly around the phone in his own hand. "If you don't like the picture, I can change it," he stammered, refusing to answer the question, "I have several of the estate I can use. I-I think you might like them." He stepped forward in an attempt to reach out and take the phone from Erik's hand. Erik, however, brought it closer to his chest, batting away Charles' hand.  
  
"It's not that I don't like it," Erik said, "I just want to know why you have it on your phone."  
  
Charles didn't reply. Frustrated, Erik furrowed his brow. "Answer me, Charles."  
  
Charles' nostrils flared as his eyes flickered between the phone and Erik. Erik could tell that he was terrified of answering the question and angry at the prospect of being interrogated. But as much as he wanted to get his possession back and avoid discussion, he knew he had no choice but to tell the truth. "Because you're important to me, alright?" Charles blurted, looking away as he admitted the answer, "You're the most important person in my life, Erik. Every time I look at that picture I remember what it means to care about someone so deeply you can't help but smile when you see them. And every time someone asks me who that man is on my phone, I get to tell them how brilliant you are and how lucky I am to have you in my life. So many of them ask if you are my husband or my boyfriend, and every time they do I smile and tell them what a bloody honor it would be to say it were true. But that doesn't stop me from bragging about you, doesn't keep me from remembering just how happy I am to be beside you."  
  
Erik stared at him in disbelief, eyes wide as he took in the information he had just been told. Charles cared about him. More so than he had ever shared before. Not only was he happy to be his friend, to have him in his life, but he embraced the idea of having Erik as a boyfriend, as a lover. Erik's heart tumbled in his chest as he realized what that meant. Charles wanted him.  
  
"Now, if you will please return my phone," Charles mumbled shamefully as he held out his hand, "I'll be out of your way."  
  
Erik looked down at the phone in his hand one more time before placing it in Charles' waiting palm. He then took his own phone from Charles' other hand, tucking it in his pocket without saying anything. However, the moment Charles turned to leave, he wrapped his fingers around Charles' wrist to hold him back.  
  
"Charles?"  
  
Charles turned to look at him, eyes full of shame and regret. Erik could tell that he believed there was no way his feelings could be reciprocated. But God was he wrong.  
  
"Promise me the next time someone asks if I'm your boyfriend, you say yes," he murmured softly, a playful smile gracing his lips.  
  
Charles' eyes seemed to light up at his words, the shame disappearing as hope and understanding overcame him. Charles knew what he was saying, knew that Erik felt the same way toward him. "I promise," Charles whispered with a boyish grin, his cheeks nearly glowing as he smiled.  
  
Erik rubbed his thumb over the back of Charles' hand affectionately before letting him go and turning to head down the hall. As he disappeared into his bedroom, he thought about the smile that Charles had given him and just how perfect it would be to have that smile greet him every time he opened his own phone.


End file.
